A weblog, mostly about knitting but other topics appear

Grandson Ethan is in third grade and he and his 150+ classmates had an assignment where they had to interview a senior relative about what their life was like when they were in third grade. Well today was presentation day where proud parents and grandparents gathered to see the results. Our grandson Ethan interviewed me as his senior relative and here is his presentation of the results. I thought he was quite clever in his presentation and his interpretation – but no cleverer than his many classmates of such a variety of ethnicities. it was a fun day for all concerned – especially the sampling of favorite recipes from the many countries represented. Ethan’s favorite recipe was for Irish Apple Cake which he and his mom made.

Ethan explaining his project to his mom/mum Susan. If he had asked me what was my favorite recipe I would have said Apple Crisp – which is kind of like Irish Apple Cake. But Apple Crisp is straight out of Betty Crocker. Ethan has a mixed heritage from Ireland and North America.

On the weekend before Memorial Day I was visiting home territory in Boston Massachusetts. While there I visited the cemetery in Winchester where my father and my maternal grandparents and great aunt are buried. I had been wanting to do this for a long time. My last and only previous visit to the Winchester cemetery had been 60 years ago in August 1957, the day of my grandfather’s funeral.

In 1882 at age 19 my grandmother married Major Charles Dana Miller. There was a big difference in their ages. At 46 he was old enough to be her father. They went on to have 5 children – Myrtle in 1884, Ruth in 1886, Dana in 1887, Joseph in 1891, and Roy in 1893. Major Miller, though in ill health as a result of injuries incurred in the Civil War, was an active member in their local community of Mt. Vernon Ohio. For health reasons, they spent a certain amount of time in Florida. Was this an asthmatic condition? But it was in Mt. Vernon where he died at the still young age of 61 in 1898. Mary became a widow with 5 young children.

I recall being told that he had an encounter with a burglar in the cellar of their home in Mt. Vernon. Gun shots were exchanged and a bullet shattered a glass jar used to preserve fruits and vegetables. He was cut by a piece of glass, blood poisoning developed, proving to be fatal. That’s the story in my memory.

Alternatively I have subsequently read that his death was due to skin cancer. Quite different. That is the cause of death given in the book about his service in the Civil War – Struggle for the Life of the Republic.

Reading the obituary published following his death, the writer indicates that Charles was a man of small stature/light frame and nervous temperament. This implies that he was not 100% healthy at the time of his enlistment in 1861, at age 25. Despite this he served valiantly until his honorable discharge in 1964. Over the years he went on to father 7 children. In later life he spent time in Florida, for health reasons. Near the end he returned to Newark and failed more rapidly. I think this sounds like cancer. Or possibly his problems with asthma and chronic bronchitis just lead to an early death.

I like to think of the generations stretching back from my grandparents. Three of my 4 grandparents were alive when I was born. I have memories of two of them – my maternal grandfather and my paternal grandmother. So the Great Greats somehow do not seem so remote if people I knew could remember their grandparents etc. Oh the questions I could have asked.

My maternal grandmother was born in Boston Massachusetts on May 1 1872 and was accordingly named May Belle. Sounds as if her parents, James D. K. Willis and Ellen Cummings, were delighted.

May Belle as a young mother in Minneapolis Minnesota, April or May 1912

Grandmother May Belle (on the right) in Spring 1940, shortly before she died in July 1940 – Winchester Mass The 2 little girls are her grand daughters, and the other woman is her sister-in-law “Auntie”

my grandmother May Belle in later years, the 1930’s, in Winchester Massachusetts

Yes, it was in the 1600’s. An English family was just one of many to gather their belongings and board a ship bound for North America. My ancestors. It gives me a thrill to find named ancestors – my ancestors – part of this wave of people from the British Isles. Hopes and dreams, in pursuit of religious freedom? Why did each person come? Can I put myself in their shoes knowing that I am a direct descendent?